Painted Canvas and Beads - the Cacti

These wonderful little cactus pieces are almost finished - but I have other things I have to do before I can spend the time. (things with deadlines). These were really enjoyable - something small and easily accomplished during morning coffee!

The canvases are by Tish, produced and distributed by Sundance Designs - well painted and delightful to stitch, and only 2 1/2" square. The prickly pear is only missing a few beads, and it'll be done.

The leaves are stitched in basketweave with Petite Very Velvet by Rainbow Gallery, and the flower petals are done with DMC Satin Floss. The centers are made with smyrna cross and Soy Luster, as the Satin floss I used for the petals was "too much" shine.

I used green #650, size 14 beads on the leaves, and my favorite #250 clear above the purple zig-zag, applied with purple floss so that they look purple, but still subtle.

The purple zig-zag was only one line of stitches, but as it was placed on the "bump" stitches (the warp threads), I decided to just make it double and put the beads on the next line - the weft dips. By using the clear beads, the effect is soft, and really nice. You can see where the dots are just below the purple floss stitches.

The barrel cactus still lacks a few stitches and some beads, but you can see the effect anyway. Again, the flowers were stitched with DMC Satin floss, and the centers were made with Soy Luster - the "shadows," yellow, as I like the very soft overdye look of this thread. The green beads make splended spines!

The last picture is showing the barrel cactus with only the top line of beads done - every other stitch, of course, as they are placed on the weft "dips."

By showing these canvases both finished (almost) and in a state of being worked, I hope to demonstrate how well just a little bit of "enhancement" serves to show a painted canvas to it's best advantage - These are too small to try to use a lot of different fibers and decorative, textured stitches, as they would lose their charm and simplicity.

On the barrel cactus, I used my "dotted swiss" stitcih on the background, as it needed a bit of "jazz," but the prickly pear needed no more than basketweave, as the P.P. leaves are decorative enough.